My Glass Half Full....

I've learned through the years that there are two ways to look at my life... My glass is either half full, or half empty.   When I look at it as half empty, I find that I'm focusing on the negatives, the have-nots, the what-ifs, the shoulda-woulda-coulda's. Those are the times my heart is heavy, filled with sadness, and/or regret.

But!  When my glass is half full, I'm focusing on all the blessings in my life, the good things I'm seeing, the positive outcomes, hope for the future, and my eyes are on the horizon of what is to come. My heart is full of joy, peace, patience, kindness... oh wait... All the fruits of the Spirit!  (Galatians 5:22-23)

This weekend, we had a grand adventure with our horses... First, early in the morning, I gave my first bath to Solomon. Oh my... I was nervous, but excited to take on this new venture.  Solomon was rock steady as usual, and Mike and Christina did a great job teaching me... My horse had so much mud caked on, it took a full 15 minutes just to wet and rinse him, before we even attempted to use soap.  I feel like next time I will be able to do it by myself... Pretty huge for me.

Onward... Mike let me load Solomon into the horse trailer once... Another new thing for me.  I've never loaded anything but groceries into my truck!  hehe.  It was fun, a little scary, but I think with practice, I could get better.  Solomon had no issues... he's my rock.

Next we trailered all three of the babies (Solomon, 3; Hercules, 4; and Dreamer, 4) out to the property to "walk"... My friends, Sylvia and Paul, came along with their horses, Double and Max.  We met Jeanie and Bob at their house and they let our babies play in the paddock to "get their giggles out", as Jeanie calls it, before attempting a 3 mile walk.  Soon we were all off and running (well, walking) throughout the Highland Meadows neighborhood.  I won't tell you everything we did, but suffice it to say, I learned a lot and faced some challenges, but Solomon and I taught each other a few things and I felt great at the end of the day...

After arriving home, Mike and I discussed the days events, and Mike right away started analyzing himself and the ways he might have failed throughout the day.  It was an eye-opener for me.  I never really realized  how critical of himself he is, and how high his expectations of himself.   God gave me good words of encouragement to say to him... I feel like I saw my husband through different eyes that day.  He has always been my tower of strength, my rock and someone I see as so amazing.  He's smart, strong, capable, kind...etc. etc.  But he does not see himself that way.  I hope that my words helped him to look at himself and his accomplishments in a new way... We talked about stopping and looking at all the good things that happen in an even instead of nitpicking and trying to figure out what we could do better.  Not that there isn't a time or place for that... of course there is.  But if we always focus on what we didn't do, or failed at... where is the joy?

So I feel like God showed me two things today:

1. Am I remembering to look at my glass half full?  Counting my blessings?  Being thankful? Sure there are things in my life that sadden me, that are not reconciled, that I can't fix.  But is that where my focus is?

2. How can I help someone else to change their perspective?  Each day, am I an encouragement to someone who needs it?  Who can I bless today?

Thank you, Lord, for teaching me something new every day!

Mwah!  Have a great week everyone... and enjoy my before and after bath photos, as well as the photos of our babies romping in the paddock...